Circuit-closing device.



W. W. ALEXANDER, DEGD. E. T. KEIM, Anmmls'rmwon. CIRCUIT CLOSING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6, 1910. 1,084,382, I Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

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WILLIAM: W. ALEXANDER, OF DENVER, COLORADO; EDWARD T. KEIIVI, ADMINIS- TBATOE, 0F SAID ALEXANDER, DECEASED, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE PROTECTIVE SIGNAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF COLORADO.

CIRCUIT-CLOSING DEVICE.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

Application filed July 6, 1910. Serial No. 570,615.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM N. ALEX- ANDER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Denver, in the county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Circuit-Closing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in signaling apparatus and its object resides in the provision of a vibratory element which, when in motion, will close the normally open circuit of an electric signaling instrument and which being sensitive to a high degree, will be incited to action when a to all purposes rigid support with which it is connected, is subjected to jars and. shocks.

lVhile my signaling apparatus may be effectively employed for various purposes as, for example, to communicate at remote points, the occurrence of an earthquake, storm or other disturbance, or to indicate the presence of persons moving upon a floor or other structure, it is more particularly adapted to audibly or visibly give knowledge of the approach of an engine or train at crossings, switches, stations and other points of a railway.

The circuit-closing apparatus which, as hereinbefore mentioned, includes a highly sensitive vibrative element is, in the last named instance, connected with one of the rails of the railway track, to be actuated when the same is jarred by the impulse of a passing engine and it is designed to intermittently close by its vibratory movement an electric circuit in which one or more signaling instruments are located. An embodiment of my invention thus applied, is shown in the accompanying drawings in the various views of which like parts are similarly designated and in which Figure 1, represents a transverse section through a rail of a railway track with the circuit-closing apparatus in its operative position. Fig. 2, a plan View of the said apparatus with the casing in which it is inclosed, in section. Fig. 3, a fragmentary plan view of the contact making portion of the apparatus, drawn to an enlarged scale, Fig. 4, a partially sectional elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 5, a diagrammatic view of the mechanical appliances and electrical connections of a signaling system installed at the crossing of a railway track and a highway, and Fig. 6, a section taken along the line 6-6, Fig. 4:.

Referring to the drawings by numerical reference characters, the numeral 2 designates a cylindrical casing in which the operating parts of the circuit-closing mechanism are inclosed and which is secured to a plate 3 which by means of suitable clamping devices 41- is, in practice, secured to the flange of the rail 5 as shown in Fig. 1. The ends of the casing 2, are hermetically closed by means of two heads 6, which serve not only to protect the apparatus contained in the casing against the detrimental influences of moisture and dirt, but also to connect said apparatus with the electric circuit of the signaling instrument. The heads 6 are each composed of three concentric plates 7, 8 and 9 fastened together by means of screws 10 which, electrically, connect the outer plates and are insulated from the intermediate one by means of bushings 12. The two outer plates 7 and 9 are furthermore insulated from the middle plate 8 by the use of interposed disks 13 composed of nonconductive material and the outermost plate 7 carries a centrally disposed binding screw 14- for the attachment of the wire through which the current of electricity is conducted when the circuit of which it forms part, is closed by the action of the mechanism inclosed in the cylinder 2, the construction of which will now be described.

The mechanism above referred to consists of a vibratory element which is composed of a rigid bar 15 which carries at one of its ends a poise 16 and whose opposite extremity is connected with a slender rod 17 made of resilient material. The rod 17 which is axially alined with the bar 15 is clamped at its outer extremity, by means of screws 18 and a therewith associated follower 19, upon a metal block 20 which is firmly secured upon the innermost member 9 of the adjacent head 6. The bar 15 is furthermore connected with the block 20 by means of two divergently disposed, resilient metal strips 21, the extremities of which are secured, respectively, to the bar at a point intermediate its ends and to the block 20 at opposite sides of its center.

A metallic block 22 secured upon the bar 15, carries two contact blades 24 and a tongue 23 which latter is during the vibrative action of the element, engaged by the blades to intermittently close thenormally open electric circuit of which said blades and said tongue constitute the terminals. The two blades 24 which extend one above the other, are separated at their fixed extremities by means of an interposed distance-plate 25 which by means of a wire 26, is connected with the innermost member 9 of the head 6 opposite to that which carries the vibrative element. The wire 26 which, for clearness of illustration, has been indicated in the drawings by a heavy broken line, is laced up and down through holes 31 in the bar 31, so as to avoid all danger of its interfering with the motion of the vibratory parts and to prevent its coming in contact with the tongue 23 or the vibrating portions of the blades 24. The blades 24 are provided at their free ends, with inwardly projecting, platinum contact points 24 and they are insulated from the block 22 upon which they are secured, by the proper application of strips of non-conductive material 27. The tongue 23 which is directly connected with the block 22, projects between the contact-bearing extremities of the two blades 24 and it is provided at points opposite to the contacts 24 with similar contacts 2, a which are designed to be engaged by the others during the vibratory motion of the bar 15. The free extremity of the tongue 23, projecting beyond the ends of the blades 24, is connected with the upper extremity of the vertically extending rod 28 of a piston 29 which is loosely fitted in the lower, reduced portion of a dash-pot 30, mounted upon a flat arm 31 which is rigidly secured to one of the heads 6 and extends below the vibratory element in substantially parallel relation to the axis of the cylinder 2. The dash pot 30, contains an oily fluid, such as glycerin, which extending above and below the piston 29, serves to retard the motion of the tongue 23 with which the latter is connected, when the vibratory element is set in motion by the tremulous movement of the rail or other object to which the cylindrical housing 2 is attached.

The above described resistant means for holding the extremity of the tongue 23 against motion while the bar 15 and the therewith connected blades 24, vibrate, is of considerable importance in the operation of the apparatus, as it serves to render the contact of the blades with the tongue positive and of long duration while it permits the latter to return automatically to its central position between the free ends of the blades 24, irrespective of the position of the bar 15 relative to the horizontal and thus positively assures the eflectiveness of the device even though the bar or the resilient connections by which it is secured to the head 6, are bent or become otherwise displaced.

Upright posts 32 erected upon the arm 31 at opposite sides of the bar 15 and connected at their upper ends by a transverse bar 32 are provided to guide the bar 15 during its vertical vibratory movement and to prevent its lateral displacement.

It will be observed that, by the several connections hereinabove described the tongue 23 is, at all times in electrical communica tion with the binding screw 14 on the head to which the vibrating element is attached, while the blades 24 which are normally separated and insulated from the tongue, are, by means of the wire 26, connected with the binding screw of the opposite head.

The signaling instrument employed in association with the circuit closing element of my invention may be a semaphore, a gong, an indicator or any other device suitable to the purpose for which the signaling system is intended. In Fig. 5 of the drawings, it is represented as a gong 33 which is installed near the point of intersection of the railway 34 and the highway 35 and which is connected by means of conductors 36 and 37 with a source of electricity 38 and with a service wire 39 which by means of branch wires 40, is connected with the binding screws 14 at corresponding ends of the various casings 2 which are secured below the rail 5 of the railway at progressive distances from the crossing. The binding screws at the oppo site ends of the casings 2 are connected by means of conductors 41 with the second service wire 42 which connects with the opposite terminal of the source 38.

hen an engine or train passes the point at which one of the vibratory elements is connected with the rail, the tremulous motion imparted to the latter by the movement of the train, no matter how slight it may be is at once converted into a vibrating movement of the bar 15 which by reason of its resilient connections and the presence of the poise at its free extremity is sensitive to a considerable degree. As the motion of the tongue 23 is retarded by reason of its connection with the piston 29 in the dashpot 30, the contacts 24*, on the blades 24 will alternately engage the respective contacts on the tongue with the result that the normally open circuit of which said blades and said tongue are the terminals, is intermittently closed and the signaling instrument is in consequence actuated.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is 1. A circuit closing device comprising a vibratory element, insulated contact members carried thereon at one of their ends and adapted to engage at their normally separated, opposite ends, a dash pot, and a piston having a reciprocating movement therein in connection with said opposite end of one of said members.

2. A circuit closing device comprising a vibratory element, two electrically connected contact-blades carried thereon at one of their extremities and separated from each other at their opposite ends, a tongue carried at one of its extremities upon said element, insulated from said blades and extending between the separated ends thereof, a dash pot, and a piston having a reciprocating movement therein in connection with the free end of said tongue.

3. A circuit closing device comprising in combination with a suitable support, a bar resiliently connected therewith at one of its ends and carrying a poise at lts opposite end, lnsulated contact members carried on said bar at one of their extremities and adapted r WILLIAM W'. ALEXANDER.

lVitnesses E. T. KEIM, Anomn M. ADAMS.

Gop'ies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

